Health Visitor

[kukieee]

My HV came over yesterday without making an appointment, when she got there, she found my partner downstairs washing the car and smoking, we live on the first floor. He took her upstairs and she took his height and weight. this morning i got a call saying she raised concern because my son was left alone upstairs and my partner was supposedly smoking cannabis, i explained to her that he left him upstairs because my son gets hyperactive when he is out due to his autism so its hard to control him when you are trying to do something else, and it was raining and cold so, he goes to check on him constantly, my son is the type that if you give him his ipad he will stay still for hours, my partner does not smoke cannabis he does smoke tobacco but we do live in a flat where other ppl smoke it which really doesn't bother me. My question is should I be worried? she was not even my health visitor she is someone we have never met before.

if the doctor has referred to HV team for height and weight it sounds like there may already be concerns that he is not growing as he should be and the doctor has felt you needed some support. Your HV then showed up to find the child not being supervised adequately so it will raise concerns.

a multi agency safeguarding referral will now be made and children’s services will review the information they have and go from there. It may be a no further action, it may be support that’s provided from any range of services- not necessarily a social worker or it could be a social worker needing to do a full assessment and consider whether your child needs to be on a child in need plan or child protection plan. There’s lots of outcomes and you will need to work with them.

i would recommend you be proactive and seek parenting classes specifically aimed at children with autism- these may be run by local children’s centres.

It doesnt make sense a health visitor would call round to measure the height and weight of a four year old either tbh ,when they weigh new borns the scales are small enough to be carried around ,my son gets his height and weight measured regulatly in clinic because the scales and height measurement equipment are big and bulky